Ideally how quickly should someone lose weight? - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

CrazedLedZepFan · 03-08-2008, 09:16 AM

As in lbs./week. I'm trying to set a goal for myself. I was going for 20 lbs. by June 1st, but when I entered it into Fitday, it came out as 2 1/2 lbs. a week. That seems a little too quickly for successful weight loss. I want to lose slowly enough to keep it off but I don't want to be dieting forever, lol.

Tamaroot · 03-08-2008, 10:55 AM

The usual magic number is about 1 lb/week. But that will vary greatly depending on your method of weight loss and your exercise regiment.

I've heard you shouldn't lose more than 3 lbs/week for sustained loss. (Source? I don't remember if it was my doctor or not

sorry)

Set yourself a moderate goal for now, like 1.5 lbs a week. If it's really easy, you can try pushing yourself to 2. But beyond that it's really hard. You need to either starve yourself (horrible idea, don't do it) or exercise a lot. But when you exercise a lot you need to eat more and that can feel counter-intuitive.

August may seem like forever but it's not!

angierue · 03-08-2008, 10:56 AM

I believe (but I'm not a doctor so don't quote me on this) that a healthy goal is 1-2 lbs a week. Of course, if you are heavier (like me), you could easily lose 3-7 lbs a week in the beginning and still be doing it healthily and be able to maintain long term success because once you get your weigh down, it will start to slow down and fall into that range.

Good luck!

lifelongjourney · 03-08-2008, 11:06 AM

According to my doctor, after the first two weeks it is best to lose 1-2lbs a week. Good Luck!

RealCdn · 03-08-2008, 11:43 AM

I've also seen it expressed as a percentage of bodyweight. 0.5 - 1.0% That always made more sense to me. In your case that would be somewhere between .8 and 1.6 pounds a week. Thinking in % may make more sense, especially when you get closer to your goal (ie. it might be harder, seeing smaller numbers).

I sometimes think that too much media exposure to fad diets, and shows like the Biggest Loser, have made it harder to be happy with a reasonable weight loss number. You see people complaining about only losing (fill it whatever number), when others would be happy to lose that amount.